Sonia Rivera Valdés (Havana, 1937) is a force of nature, an accomplished writer, a leader in the Latinx community in New York and a professor (now retired) who has inspired hundreds of students. The two stories selected to be published in this issue of the Translators' Corner—“Los imperfectos poderes de Edelmira” and “Cena con Mildred en el restaurante japonés,” presented in English translation as “The Imperfect Powers of Edelmira” and “Dinner with Mildred in the Japanese Restaurant”—are part of the book Cuéntame una historia: Ocho que pueden ser novela. The stories span the life of Beatriz, the protagonist, from her adolescence to her 60s. Sonia’s flair for dialog and character-based humor shine in “The Imperfect Powers of Edelmira.” Edelmira is annoying in ways that make us laugh and be grateful she is not our mother. In “Dinner with Mildred in the Japanese Restaurant” Beatriz has lived many more years, has enjoyed, suffered, and ended relationships and has become more reflective as she looks back on the decades that have passed since she was a young woman being driven crazy by her exasperating mother. I imagined the two stories to be the beginning and the end of Beatriz's life journey—two stories (from eight) that could become a novel. [Adapted from the introduction written by the translator, Pennell Somsen].
